My 72 stopped "receiving" tide information two years ago. A call to Garmin tech support revealed that due to a change in the way the info was broadcast from the sattelites, the 72 could no longer interpret the data properly, so users would get an error message when trying to access it. And because the 72 had been discontinued, Garmin had no plans to do a software fix. In short, the unit worked fine for telling me where I was, but it would never give tide info again.

I would periodically look at the various handhelds for sale to maybe replace the 72, and came to the conclusion that Garmin is really the only game in town left for those. I decided it wasn't that important, so I kept the unit and had no plans to upgrade. That is, until I saw the sale Defender was having last spring on the Lowrance Elite. I decided to bite the bullet (and finally get a depth sounder too). I now have a full color, 5 inch screen chartplotter and depth sounder, and don't have to worry about carrying spare AA's anymore. I'm a happy camper.